Lee Child is right that too many children are being put off reading by how literature is taught (Thrillers should be on the UK school curriculum to boost reading, 19 December). Anything that helps young people develop a reading habit is welcome. But framing the solution as thrillers versus so-called “masterpieces” risks missing the deeper issue. There needs to be more systemic change in how schools think about boys’ reading rather than simply swapping one set of books for another.
In my experience as an English teacher, despite having access to more books than ever before, schools often see books with glorified violence at the centre as “boy books”, and so fill the curriculum with this content. This does nothing to combat toxic masculinity – rather, it fosters it.
